Processing Payroll
The Union Reports and Submit Payroll steps — what's checked, what you sign, and what can block a submission
After Payroll Summary, two steps remain: Union Reports, then Submit Payroll. This page covers what happens on the way to actually releasing money.
Union Reports
The fourth step shows a report for each union with payees on this run — fund routing, per-payee union calculations, and a mark reviewed checkbox for each union. Marking a union reviewed is a soft check: the Submit Payroll step will point out any union you haven't marked, but it doesn't stop you from submitting anyway.
Submit Payroll
The final step recaps the run one more time before you commit to it:
- Final figures — payee count, gross, net pay, fringe funds, employer taxes (with an estimate/synced note), and the direct-deposit/physical-check split
- Total to fund — the same headline number from Payroll Totals, front and center
- Union reports — a quick list of which unions are marked reviewed
- Unverified rate book warning, if any union on this run has one — see Payroll Calculations
- Approval panel, if your company requires two approvals before submitting — see Payroll Run Status
- A reminder that Greenroom approval needs to land by roughly noon Wednesday for funds to arrive by the scheduled check date — submitting later pushes the pay date to the next banking day
- An attestation checkbox: "I reviewed the payroll summary and union reports... Submitting records this run, assigns check numbers, and locks the period." You have to check this before the submit button becomes active.
The button itself changes label depending on your company's settings and your role: Submit payroll (no approval requirement), Submit to Greenroom (approval requirement, already satisfied), or Send for approval (you're the preparer and it isn't satisfied yet).
What happens when you submit
Submitting isn't a long wait — it's a short series of steps that happen right away:
- Check numbers are assigned to every check-paid payee, continuing from the highest number your company has ever issued
- Union fund payments are calculated and their routing is locked in permanently for this run
- The payroll is sent to Check, our payroll provider, for approval
- The run's status moves to Paying out
From here, the money is committed — see Payroll Run Status for what "Paying out" means and how a run reaches Paid. There's no fixed processing-time estimate to give: assigning check numbers and routing funds happens in moments, and the remaining wait is for your bank to confirm the payout, which isn't on a timer Greenroom controls.
Multi-state payroll (withholding, reciprocity, and state-by-state filings) is not yet supported — see Known Gaps for current status.
What can block submitting
Most checks on this page are informational. Two are not — and they only apply to payees managed through Check:
| Block | Applies to | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Incomplete tax withholding | W-2 employees | Check reports that a required withholding step (for example, a missing W-4) isn't complete for this payee |
| Contractor payment not ready | 1099 contractors | The payee's W-9 isn't signed, or their tax ID failed validation |
Both surface as a specific, per-payee, actionable message — submit is refused until it's fixed, rather than silently proceeding. Neither applies to payees who aren't yet connected to Check (for example, a demo company).
Cancelling a payroll
There's no cancel action once a run has moved past Draft. Before then, delete the draft outright — see Payroll Run Status. Once you've submitted, don't try to reverse it yourself; contact support with the run's code if there's an urgent problem.
Best practices
- Review Payroll Summary and Union Reports thoroughly before you reach this screen — Submit Payroll is a final check, not a place to start reviewing
- Confirm the total-to-fund number against your bank balance before submitting
- Submit by the Wednesday-noon guidance if you need funds to land on the scheduled check date
- Keep the run's code handy after submitting, in case you need to contact support
Next steps
After submitting, continue to Payroll Success for what the confirmation means and where the run lives afterward, or see Payroll Run Status for the full status lifecycle.